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Syracuse midfielder Olivia Adamson said falling behind 8-2 in the first quarter against No. 1 Northwestern was “unacceptable.” The Orange cut the Wildcats’ lead to 15-14 midway through the fourth quarter, but they ultimately faltered because of their early struggles.

Ahead of SU’s matchup with Army, head coach Kayla Treanor said she wanted her team to open the game with a sense of urgency. Her players responded, leading just a minute and a half into the game before scoring eight goals in the opening 15 minutes.

“I think we had a great first quarter, probably our best quarter of the game,” Treanor said. “So it was a great, great response (from Saturday).”

Wednesday’s first quarter was No. 5 Syracuse’s (1-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) highest-scoring opening period since notching 11 goals against UAlbany on March 1, 2023. In an 18-7 win over No. 18 Army (0-2, 0-0 Patriot League), the Orange won by double-digits for the first time since defeating Johns Hopkins 25-8 on May 14, 2023, in the NCAA Tournament. SU’s offense was propelled by Natalie Smith notching a career-high six points while its defense surrendered seven goals on just 23 shots.

Though Syracuse controlled the majority of the first quarter, it lost the opening draw control — a crucial part of its first-quarter struggles against NU. But unlike its shortcomings against the Wildcats, where SU was forced to switch to man-to-man, the Orange’s zone clamped the Black Knights’ first attack.

Following goalie Delaney Sweitzer’s ground ball pickup, she got the ball ahead to Maddy Baxter, who pushed the ball coast-to-coast. Baxter quickly got the ball ahead to Adamson, who scored a career-high six goals against Northwestern, but after Emma Ward cut toward the 8-meter, she dumped the ball and Ward capitalized on her open look, scoring a minute-and-a-half into the game.

Kate Mashewske lost her second draw control in a row, but SU forced Brigid Duffy, the reigning Patriot League Freshman of the Year and Inside Lacrosse’s No. 25 player Division I preseason player, to turn the ball over. Again, Baxter propelled the Orange down the field and scored an uncontested goal to give SU a 2-0 lead.

Over the first seven minutes of the game, Syracuse’s zone defense, along with a free-position save from Sweitzer, thwarted Army. Meanwhile, the Orange continued turning their defense into goals on the other end.

Ward, who struggled early against Northwestern, notched her second point on an assist to Smith while Payton Rowley scored her first goal of the season to put Syracuse up 4-0 five minutes into the game.

“We’re all just reading the defense and communicating as an entire offense,” Smith said. “We’re just letting the ball work and we’re connecting on those plays.”

The Black Knights finally found the back of the net eight minutes in when Carleigh Armstrong cut toward the crease unmarked, but Syracuse responded with a 3-0 run over the next six minutes. Baxter and Rowley scored their second goals of the game while Savannah Sweitzer became SU’s fifth player to score after a behind-the-back shot to put the Orange up 7-1 with under two minutes remaining in the quarter.

Though Army’s Gabrielle Mirak scored a free-position goal at the 1:55 mark, Smith won the ensuing draw control and scored off Ward’s second assist, giving SU an 8-2 lead after 15 minutes.

“You got to be able to start hot when another team starts hot,” Army head coach Michelle Tumolo said postgame. “We didn’t match their energy, especially in that first quarter.”

After its prolific opening quarter, Syracuse kept rolling offensively. Smith, who notched a hat trick in SU’s season-opener, scored her third of four goals 30 seconds into the quarter after an unassisted shake-and-bake snipe. Adamson then picked up back-to-back assists to Ward and Rowley.

Rowley’s goal, which marked her second-career hat trick, gave Syracuse an 11-2 lead at the 11:23 mark of the second quarter. She finished with a career-high four goals.

“I thought (Rowley) did a great job tonight and stepped up,” Treanor said. “We wanted to attack (Army) early in our possessions and I think Payton did a great job of that.”

Following two straight possessions with assists, Adamson extended Syracuse’s lead to double-digits. Mashewske notched a draw-control win, then the Orange swung the ball around before Adamson scored her first goal of the game.

Despite its poor draw control in the first quarter, where Army successfully retained possession on six of the game’s opening 11 draws, Mashewske helped Syracuse dominate the second. After a sluggish first-quarter draw control where the Orange won just 3-of-11 against the Wildcats, Treanor opted to have Adamson step into the circle for the second.

But Wednesday, Mashewske was Syracuse’s draw control specialist throughout the game, helping the Orange go 5-for-7 in the second quarter en route to winning 16-of-27. Mashewske won a game-high nine draw controls.

Duffy scored her first goal of the game six minutes before halftime but Emma Tyrrell responded with her first a minute later and the Orange retained a 13-3 double-digit lead at halftime.

The Black Knights scored the first two goals of the third quarter, but answers from Ward and Rowley helped the Orange retain a 15-5 lead after three quarters. Throughout the fourth, Syracuse opted to mostly deploy its reserves and picked up its first win of the season in complete fashion, never losing a quarter.

“Overall, we had a lot of people step up and we were able to bounce back after this past weekend (against) Northwestern,” Treanor said.

Published on February 14, 2024 at 6:25 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon